Book Review: The Littlest Bigfoot

Synopsis: Alice lives life almost invisibly – her family ships her off to school, she doesn’t have a single friend and she knows that she isn’t pretty with her big, bulky frame and her wild hair she calls a mane. So when she saves Millie Maximus’s life at her eighth boarding school, she realizes that she might finally get a chance at friendship.
Millie lives a sheltered life with her family in their village of Bigfoots. That’s right, Millie is a Bigfoot, but all she wants is to become a famous singer and make friends with a No-Fur (or human). When a picture of Millie and Alice lands on a conspiracy theory website, crazed Bigfoot hunters begin the search for Millie’s family – will Alice be able to protect Millie’s village? And will Millie be the friend Alice has been hoping for?

Review: I really enjoyed the concept of the story – a human girl who doesn’t fit in with humans is the ideal Bigfoot and a Bigfoot who is too small and too human-obsessed for her village makes a great friend to a human. As I said, I liked the concept, but my biggest issue with the story was that I felt the author was a bit too heavy-handed with the conclusion of the story. The story leaned toward preachy, rather than showing readers how celebrating differences is so important, the book spelled everything out too much.
All of the pieces individually worked, but altogether the story felt a little clunky. I wanted more of a story about Jeremy who is convinced that Bigfoots exist and he’s ready to find one at all costs, but without more of a backstory, I didn’t feel any connection to his story or his need to find the Bigfoots’  village. I also wanted to know a little bit more about Alice’s school – how it came to be and a little more of her daily schedule, etc. I felt a strong connection to Millie and Alice, but the supporting characters and setting were not as fully realized for me.

Twitter Booktalk (280ish characters or less): Alice and Millie don’t fit in at home or school but when they find each other, a friendship is born, that is until Alice realizes her new friend Millie is a little different – she’s a Bigfoot! How will the girls remain, friends, when everyone’s out to get them.

Title: The Littlest Bigfoot
Author: Jennifer Weiner
Publisher: Aladdin
Publication Date: September 13, 2016
Page Number: 304 pgs.